Rumor Has It
by Failure2Communicate
Summary: They say horror is all in the mind, and everything that can't be explained is a figment of our overactive imaginations. Are they right? Is belief all it takes to send us spiraling into madness? Jude Mathis is about to find out. (Modern Day AU)
1. Story 1 Part 1

Story 1

Click Clack Slide

Part 1: Never Walk Home Alone

Before Jude had even realized it, it had become dark outside. The shimmering city lights bathed the narrow roads in pale yellow light and cast all the pedestrians' downturned faces in shadow. Traffic was fairly light for this busy of a city, so he saw no reason not to take the long way home. He managed a polite wave goodbye to his friends before the automatic doors to the movie theater closed shut behind him, and began his trek. He'd been offered a ride home by his friend, Lloyd, but he'd decided he had better chances surviving the walk. The chill of the autumn night air was a welcome presence after being cooped up in that crowded and musty place. He'd gone to see that Slasher that Luke had been dying to see, and though it was fun to go out with his friends, the movie itself had been a monumental disaster. Still, as he crept through the shadows of particularly large trees he couldn't help but be reminded of a certain part.

The pretty blonde heroine of the story had been walking alone on a rainy afternoon. The clouds above her were pitch black and the wind howled across the empty street, nearly uprooting the hot pink umbrella she held in her delicate and shivering hands. Then, from behind her came a noise.

_Click, clack, slide._

The girl turned her head with agonizing slowness to see what the source of the horrible sound was.  
There, before her glittering blue eyes was a man in a soldier's uniform. He lay belly down on the sidewalk, legs looking as if they'd just recently been torn off. Behind him was a trail of crimson blood, quickly becoming diluted by the barrage of rain. He stared directly at her with empty eye sockets and then slowly started to smile. In one quick movement he swung his arms forward, showing off the glinting steel of the knives he held in both his hands.  
He buried the first knife into the ground in front of him

_Click_

Then the next, only a little bit farther than the other.

_Clack_

And with a laugh bubbling in his throat he dragged his body forward.

_Slide_

Jude shook his head rapidly, dispelling the thoughts from his mind. The girl's acting was sub-par but the mere thought of what had happened next made him more than a little uneasy. Instead he switched his focus to the crosswalk that stretched in front of him. The signal to cross was up, but Jude didn't know how long it had been there. A quick glance at his watch told him it was getting close to when he was expected back home. Bracing himself, he decided to cross.

He was nearly to the other side when his foot sank into a pothole that he'd sworn hadn't been on this road beforehand. He attempted to remove the trapped appendage from its prison, only to meet resistance. He glanced to the left to see that the light on the other side of the intersection was turning yellow. Frantically, he pulled at his ankle, wriggling his foot until it finally came loose. With a yelp he propelled himself forward, shaking whatever it was off and landing onto the sidewalk just before a black sedan sped on by, dangerously close to hitting him. Heart pounding in his throat he scrambled away from the road then collapsed to his knees, trying feebly to catch his breath.

That's when Jude heard it. A sharp noise sounding like it was close behind him.

_Click, Clack, Slide._

The cheap slow motion affect of the girl turning her head suddenly made sense to Jude as he ever so slowly turned to the sound. There, on the other side of the street, was a man in an army uniform. Every gory detail matched the man he'd seen in the film. He sprung to his feet, trying to convince himself that this was his imagination or a friend playing a prank.

That would certainly be an elaborate hoax, Jude thought, and it took his quick mind under a second for him to realize that was impossible. Whoever had set up this hoax would've had to of seen the film beforehand to set all of this up and this had been the city's first actual showing. As Jude's idol, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, had once written:

_"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."_

What did that mean, then? That he was face to face with a monster? Regardless, logic dictated this man would move slowly; he'd get himself ran over by a car before he could even touch him.

But the man in the movie had moved so fast, Jude had thought, unconsciously.

In the instant that last thought ran through his mind, he saw the man's body convulse morbidly, the base of his neck snapping at the movement. For a second the body went limp, but then shot back up and began coming towards him. The knives dug into the ground and it slid, just as it had before, but it was moving at the pace of a sprinter.

_"Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth."_

Feeling returned to Jude's legs and he hurled himself away from the damned thing and began bolting towards home. All the while he kept hearing those sickening sounds coming steadily closer:

_Click, clack, slide. Click, clack, slide. Click, clack, slide._

Adrenaline was the only thing keeping him moving, otherwise he would've sank to the floor in terror. No matter how quickly he ran, that thing just kept coming closer. It was like a nightmare Jude couldn't wake up from. This couldn't be happening. He didn't want to die.

He couldn't say how long it had actually taken him to reach the door of his home, but it felt like hours had passed by. Unable to slow down enough before he hit the door he crashed into it with a loud sound, then moved his shaking hands to turn the doorknob and rushed on through, slamming the door swiftly behind him.

Before he could even catch his breath he realized he heard screaming, far too high-pitched to be his own. With a start his head snapped over to the dining room table, situated not too far to his left. There he could see two shapes huddling underneath it.

"Oh, it's just Jude," the familiar voice of his current guardian, Driselle, piped in, sounding more than just a little embarrassed as she rose from her hiding place.  
A laugh sounded from the end of the table, where he saw the Sharil family butler, Rowen, calmly sipping warm tea.

"Jude! You scared us!" Rowen's adopted granddaughter, Elize, said with a pout as she followed suit, "What were you trying to do, break down the door?"

"I'm...sorry?" was all Jude could think to say.

"You look rather pale, my boy. Did something happen?" Rowen asked, setting his cup down delicately and giving the teen his full attention. The elderly man's eyes held a great deal of concern, and his smile was reassuring and warm. It calmed Jude down almost instantly.

Jude's gaze shifted to the door behind him, and he felt a blush tinge his cheeks. There was no way he could tell them. The more he thought about it rationally the less real the entire ordeal seemed. It must've been the stress and lack of sleep from exams or something. He'd probably just seen particularly drunk old man on the sidewalk and his thoughts of the movie had just made him particularly jumpy. It was likely the man's legs were just cast into shadow so it had seemed like they were missing. As far as Jude was concerned, the mystery was solved.

"Nothing really," Jude answered with a reassuring smile of his own, "It's just really cold out there."

"I see," was all Rowen said before returning to his tea. He sounded dubious but didn't seem to want to press the issue further.

"Sorry we freaked out on you like that!" Driselle told him, now sitting comfortably in one of the chairs, "It was just that my magazine finally came in the mail and I was reading an article about the hospital Leia's working at tonight."

When she held it up it all started to make sense. It was an issue of her strange occult magazine, The Beyond. She'd been collecting those magazines for years. Well before Jude had begun living with her.

He'd been sent here at the request of his father at the start of the school year so, actually, it had only been a few months. He never really was told why his parents had made him relocate but it hardly mattered. He'd hardly had any friends to complain about losing or any particular attachment to his always empty home. When his only friend, Leia, insisted on tagging along everything was better. All in all, it had benefited everyone involved.

"There's a Slasher Man that rips everyone to shreds!" Elize cried from the chair next to Driselle.

Jude inwardly sighed, Driselle really didn't have any discretion when it came to this sort of thing so he was hardly surprised she'd been reading it aloud to a twelve year old like Elize. Meanwhile, Rowen was chuckling away at Elize's last remark. He hardly seemed concerned for his grandchild at all.

If she had another nightmare again, Jude was waking both Driselle and Rowen up and making them handle it.

"Do you want to hear it, Jude?!" Driselle asked, displaying her magazine with a winning smile.

He'd obviously had enough horror to last him the week, considering his prior hallucinatory fiasco, but he knew no matter what he said she'd probably manage to talk him into it. Driselle had a way with words that Jude couldn't even begin to describe; one well placed look and she had you wrapped around her finger. So, Jude nodded his affirmation and allowed her to begin her story.

The article began by describing how every E.R. has a room where they put the "less than sane patients" so that no one is harmed while they wait. It's a nearly empty room, housing only a single chair. Nurses would sometimes report seeing a man sitting in there out of the corner of their eye, but if they tried to look again, there would be nothing there. One day a nurse saw him directly. He was supposedly mouthing the name 'Reeves'. Lo and behold, the very next day a patient by the last name of Reeves was found hung in her hospital room. The nurse that had seen the man was found disemboweled a few hours later.

"Spooky, isn't it?" Driselle squealed with delight.

Jude nodded his head, if only to appease her.

* * *

This is a little project I'm working on that'll involve implementation of miscellaneous scary stories and creatures from folklore. Pretty similar to Supernatural, actually. It's going to be episodic in nature, each having two parts, and I'm open to requests on what you'd like me to include next. If you have any scary stories you'd like me to write on go ahead and send them to me. Creepypastas are allowed (if not encouraged, I'm quite a fan) as long as they're not gaming ones. It's hard to write on those.

The stories I included in this part were the urban legend "Click, Clack, Slide" and a story I heard from nurses when working in the ER to get credit for the CNA (Certified Nurse Assistant) course I took in high school. It was a favorite to tell particularly jumpy interns, including myself at the time.


	2. Story 1 Part 2

Part 2

A Memory Best Left Forgotten

The slow methodical beep of machines sounded from all directions as Leia ran to get the heated blankets for a particularly frantic doctor. She was earning credit for her CNA class at the nearby E.R. tonight, and so far it had been very eventful. She was so focused on remembering where the blankets were that she found herself crashing into an unfortunate man who had been standing by room 104. Her exuberance had all but sent the both of them sprawling backwards.

"I'm so sorry, sir!" Leia cried, brushed off her scrubs and scrambled to a sitting position.

The stranger seemed entirely unfazed. His wide shoulders moved in a careless shrug, straining the fabric of his large brown jacket.

"No problem, kid," he said, raising himself to his feet effortlessly and then reaching down to offer her a hand, "You okay?"

"Yup! Not even a scratch on me!" she answered, cheerily smiling back at him before taking his hand.

The man brought her up to her feet easily, as if she weighed nothing at all.

"So, where's the fire?" he asked, raking a hand through his unkempt brunette hair, "You were running awfully fast there."

"Oh my god, I forgot!"

The man, all but forgotten, she dashed over to where they kept the heated blankets. Once she was out of sight, the man glanced over to the empty holding room where they kept the dangerous patients. He broke into a wide grin and muttered to himself,

"Sikes, eh?"

"Go fish," Jude said, motioning towards the pile of cards spread across the table.

After Driselle's second reading of her article she'd become particularly jumpy, so Jude had offered to play cards with her while they waited up for Leia.

It had been hours, and she still hadn't come back yet. Waiting up with Driselle was becoming difficult as the hours ticked on by and he slowly became groggier. There was still no sign of Leia. He was really starting to get worried; she should've been back quite a while ago.

Driselle looked up at the clock, and sighed, obviously thinking the same thing. She moved to put down her cards, her gaze fell upon her magazine. With a gasp she abruptly stood up, crying:

"He might've gotten Leia! We need to save her, Jude!"

Jude nearly jumped a foot at her sudden shouting, scattering his cards across the floor. When he finally registered what she'd been saying he was left baffled.

"Who's 'he'?" Jude barely managed to ask before she was grabbing his arm and dragging him outside.

"The Slasher Man, Jude, who else?!" Driselle screamed, leading him around to the garage.

It took Jude a while to understand what she was going on about, but when he did he almost couldn't stifle a laugh. She could get so worked up over the strangest things.

"That was just a story. I'm sure she's fine, Driselle," he consoled her as the garage door began to rise.

Driselle shook her head furiously at this.

"What if it's not just a story, Jude?! She could be slashed to itty-bitty bits! Have you no heart?!"

"Listen Dri-

Jude tried to say before he was interrupted by a scream. Driselle's scream to be precise, she'd just realized the car wasn't in the garage.

"Good Lord, man! Cline's taken the car! We must ride the Deathbringer!" she declared, and moved towards the side of their driveway, poor Jude still in tow.

There sat in all its glory, a dainty pink bicycle complete with a cute whicker basket.

With a roar she picked the thing up over her head and tossed it aside to reveal a giant black motorcycle, adorned with various skulls and the words 'DEATHBRINGER' written on the side.

"Come, Jude!" Driselle called, putting on a giant helmet, which also featured the words "Deathbringer" on it and handed Jude a matching one.

"We ride for Leia!"

He was really getting tired of being dragged around everywhere, but he figured he might as well play along. He couldn't talk any sort of sense into her, anyway. Besides, he wanted to know what was keeping Leia so long. He doubted it was a serial killer, but he was worried all the same. Maybe he was just a worrier in general.

Jude had barely gotten on behind her before she revved the engine and sped off. By some miracle, Jude had managed to grab onto her and they were off...reaching their destination a grand total of 50 seconds later. The hospital was only about a block away. Still, Driselle jumped off of her bike like there wasn't a moment to lose, diving through the entrance in the most dramatic way possible. She was still wearing her Deathbringer helmet, but didn't seem to notice even after all the odd looks she started getting from patrolling nurses.

"Okay, Jude, you take the odd floors and I'll take the even floors," she ordered and then ran off up the stairs.

"W-Wait!" Jude called, but by then she was long gone.

There was really no use checking every single room, all they really had to do was ask the nurse at the front desk where she was. However, the more he looked at the giant of a woman fixing him with a hard glare, the more he wanted to pass her by.

With a sigh, Jude decided to go after Driselle first. He needed stop her before she broke something, running around like that. He followed her up the stairs, but at a much safer speed.

When he cleared the last step he found himself in an empty, but brightly lit, corridor. The clack of his footsteps, and his alone, seemed to reverberate off of the bare white walls that surrounded him. He scoured the hallway for any sign of Driselle but came up with nothing. He'd crossed a few rooms on his way, but all of them seemed to be vacant at the moment. This was more than a little bit unnerving, he should be able to at least hear Driselle running around. He had yet to run into any nurses, either.

Just as he was about to give up and call out to Driselle he realized he'd reached the nurse's station. It was devoid of any inhabitants but it was easily recognizable. The back wall of the rectangular desk space was covered in lit call lights.

_Maybe they're just checking the rooms_, Jude thought.

He was sure that he'd passed one of the lit rooms on his way here. It had been empty. Perplexed, he tapped his temple in thought. This was a common habit of his, gleaned from a Sherlock Holmes cartoon he'd been hooked on as a child. The motion calmed him down, enabling him to think better and faster. There had to be a reasonable explanation for all of this.

In that moment he heard an ear-shattering shriek echoed down the halls, leaving shattered lights in its wake. Hands over his head, Jude crouched on the ground as glass rained down around him. Only when the screeching had stopped did Jude dare to look around. Everything had become pitch black. Taking a few deep calming breaths, Jude waited for his eyes to adjust before he rose to his feet and began checking himself for injuries. It appeared that the shattered glass had broken off into very fine pieces that left him covered in a layer of it but overall unharmed save for a single deep cut to the back of his hand. He would have to keep his eyes out for a first aid kit in the meantime. How such a sudden and violent explosion of glass could have left the shards so fine was beyond him, but the evidence was all over the floor. Nothing made sense anymore, and that was frustrating for Jude. He liked knowing how everything around him worked, it gave him a sense of security and that in turn made him feel like he had control of situations. Shaking his head, he decided to go with what he did know for sure. He'd heard a scream so there had to be at least one person on this floor with him. Hopefully it was Driselle, so that they could get Leia and all return to home.

Brushing off the glass on his shoulders, Jude got moving. Perhaps, Jude thought, the bulbs breaking could have been the result of a power surge. He hardly wanted to think of what the alternative could be, so he decided to leave it at that.

He thought he heard the sound of rushed footsteps from ahead of him and a door slamming. Then he heard footsteps from behind him. Soon he could hear them all around him, echoing from wall to wall. All I have to do is follow the scream, that's it, Jude mentally repeated over and over to himself. This mantra was honestly the only thing keeping him from panicking at the sudden turn of events. He had no idea who those footsteps belonged to; there was no explanation as to why an empty corridor like that could suddenly fill with people the second the lights turned off. As he rushed past a door he heard something slam against it, shaking it.

He took off sprinting in a flurry of panic. Images from earlier this evening sprang through his mind: the man with the knives crawling towards him and his dash home. This time, however, he didn't know where he could go for safety. He didn't want to die. Then his thoughts went back to Driselle. She was still in the building with whatever was making all these noises. He couldn't run for safety without her or Leia, even though a part of him desperately wanted to. He knew he had to find them both and fast.

"Driselle!" he screeched, too terrified to think straight, "Where are you, Driselle?!"

Before the last syllable left his lips, he felt himself being grabbed. Instinctively, he tried to cry out but a calloused hand clamped over it and hurled him bodily into a cramped room and snapped the door shut quickly behind him. No matter how hard he struggled, his captor's grip only tightened in response. Whoever had him was much stronger than him. He'd get nowhere if he struggled. So, after taking a few heavy breaths through his nose, he took to analyzing the situation instead. It was the only thing he could do. From the size of the hand covering his mouth he could tell that his captor was a grown man. The space was cramped, and he could feel the muscles in his captor's broad shoulders were tense as if he was ready to spring at any moment. Much like a cornered animal.

He didn't know what this man's intentions were but he hadn't hurt him yet. He was uncomfortable, certainly, but unharmed. His grip was firm but not as tightly as one would expect a predator to have on its prey. It really just seemed like he wanted to keep Jude quiet more than anything. That's when the pieces snapped into place for Jude. This man could very well be hiding from whatever had been in that room Jude had just passed. The man could actually be trying to save him. He wasn't completely sure, but that would explain why he wasn't dead yet.

He allowed his body to relax, if only slightly, as he reassured himself with the theory. Even if it wasn't true, he wasn't going to get anywhere by panicking. The man noticed this and slowly took his hand away from Jude's mouth. His arm was still tight around Jude's shoulder, but the action cemented his theory. It may not be the smartest thing to do, but he decided he'd trust this stranger. It was the only way he was getting out of this alive. That's when he heard the footsteps, steadily growing louder outside the door. His once calm and controlled breath caught in his throat as the man's grip tightened around his shoulder. The footsteps continued until he heard them stop right outside the door. Jude heard a loud sniff, a snort of sorts, which caused him to flinch. He would've jumped a full foot if the man hadn't been holding him. It's found us, thought Jude. It can smell us right now. There was no way they were safe in this little closet. However, with a screech that made Jude's ears ring, it continued on.

"3...2...1," He heard the man mumbling under his breath. Directly on the count of 1 the footsteps ceased.

With that, the man let go of him and went to open the door.

Jude raised his bruised arm to stop him but was cut off as the man said:

"Don't worry about it, kid. You're safe now. Trust me."

His voice was smooth and confident, easy on the ears. Something about it made Jude want to trust him. So, without thinking, he lowered his arm. The man took that as a sign of consent, pushed the door open, and stepped through. Jude scrambled after him. When he looked back he realized that they'd been hiding in a janitor's closet.

"Thank you, for saving me, sir," Jude said to the stranger, offering him a stiff bow.

The man laughed.

"Come on now, no need to be so formal. Call me Alvin, and thank you for keeping your mouth shut for me. It made my job a lot easier."

Jude nodded, puzzling over just what kind of job this man had. Maybe he was better off not knowing.

"I'm Jude. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm sure, but now's not the time for talking. It's time to get you out of here."

Jude was bursting with questions and obviously this man could tell. Now that he was in better lighting he could see the man's features well enough to see that he had a knowing sort of half-smile on his face. There was one question he was dead set on asking, though, regardless of how the man responded. He needed to know about Driselle and Leia.

"Save the questions for later, alright? I'll tell you everything once I get you out. It's a promise," Alvin said, gesturing in the air with his pinky before moving leisurely towards the stairs.

"Wait, I need to know if you've seen any girls around here. I'm looking for some friends of mine," Jude interrupted.

"Well, kid," Alvin answered with a sigh, "I can assure you they're safe. You and I are the only ones here."

"How do you know that?"

"No more questions. You're lucky I answered that one for you. Now let's go, or do you want to be left behind?"

This man knew what he was doing, Jude knew that, but a part of him wondered if he wanted to stake Driselle's life on his words. He seemed to know exactly what was going on here, though. He'd counted down how many steps that monster had to take before it was gone, after all. He ultimately decided to follow the man, mainly because he didn't want to be left alone if another one came his way.

Jude made sure to stick close to him. In fact, he stuck so close to his back that Alvin snickered at him, tousling his hair and saying:

"Relax, kid. I won't let anything eat you."

This left Jude feeling less than pleased but he couldn't help but smile back at him. He certainly was friendly, at the very least.

They were just about to the stairs when Alvin stopped, abruptly. The movement caused Jude to smash into him. Jude opened his mouth to give him a stern lecture, but words stuck in his throat. Right in front of them stood a figure, it was almost humanoid in shape, but not quite. Its long gangly arms brushed against the floor and its neck was hanging in an unnatural position, looking close to sliding off of its shoulders. It took a single step forward and then let out a shriek. The same exact shriek he'd heard in the hallway before the lights burst. Alvin had him by the wrist and was running the other way before Jude had so much as gasped.

Jude didn't have the slightest idea of where Alvin thought he was going, but he seemed to have a plan. Before he knew it, Alvin was dragging him through an emergency exit

.

The creature was close behind them. Alvin picked him up in the crook of his arm and leapt over the railing, sending them falling smack in the middle of the spiraling staircase. When they landed, Jude knew from the way Alvin lurched forward that he had landed wrong. He lost his grip on Jude and they both fell in a heap on the ground. Jude immediately scrambled to his feet, and saw Alvin struggling to his knees.

"Room 111," Alvin panted in a desperate tone, pointing towards the door," Make a break for Room 111. Exit the window and you're home free. Now let's go."

Jude pushed open the door and found himself standing right in front of Room 140. He turned the corner and ran down the hall. Alvin was following behind him, but at a much slower pace. Jude tried to stop and help him but brushed him off and told him to run.

"I'll catch up. I promise," Alvin said, giving him a cocky smile.

Hesitantly, Jude turned and ran.

He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, hoping that Alvin wasn't too far behind. He hit the room, turning to check on Alvin's progress. He still wasn't there yet. Mind racing, Jude floundered, he wanted desperately to move and jump out of an already open window, but that would mean abandoning Alvin. Suddenly Alvin turned the corner.

The poignant glare he gave Jude was evidence enough that he was displeased by the fact that Jude was still there. Jude darted for the window and launched himself out of it. Safe outside, he turned to see how Alvin was faring. That's when Jude saw the shape over Alvin's shoulder. Before he could even utter a word in warning the window snapped shut and the thing pounced.

The gore that splattered the windowpane was unspeakable. Blood spattered heavily against the window, dripping off of chunks of the man's flesh as they trailed down the glass. It had taken less than a second for Alvin to be disemboweled, organs splattering against the ground as they exited his slowly paling body before his limp form was tossed to the side. Unable to hold his stomach's contents back, Jude lurched forward and vomited.

"Jude!" he heard from nearby.

When he glanced towards the direction of the voice he saw Driselle rushing towards him , Leia in tow. When she reached him she knelt by his side.

"Are you alright? What happened?!" Driselle cried, hands running smooth circles down his back.

He couldn't let her see it. Jude jolted his head upwards, and froze. What he saw before him wasn't the bloody remains of the man that had saved him, but was instead the figure of an elderly woman dangling from a noose.

Shock set in and the next few minutes were a blur.

He found himself sitting on a bench near the exit, alone.

A familiar frame was making his way past him, leaning on a pair of crutches. His dazed mind took several seconds to register just who he was seeing, and even then he couldn't believe his eyes:

It was Alvin.

Jude jumped to his feet and grabbed the man's arm.

"Alvin?!"

The man looked over at him, understandably shocked at the sudden outburst.

"Do I know you?" the man asked.

"Yes," Jude huffed in response, "It's me. It's Jude!"

"Really? Well, I guess if you know my name," Alvin paused, the added with a sheepish smile, "Sorry, I don't remember meeting you."

The man's response took Jude aback. Had the entire time he'd spent with Alvin been in his mind all along? That didn't make sense; he'd never met the man before in his life and yet he'd imagined him very vivdly. That's when he noticed the bandages of his left hand. That's right, a nurse had been bandaging it only moments before. That's where he'd gotten the cut from the falling glass. Could he have really been imagining it when the signs were still there? But, Alvin was alive. He'd seen him die. He noticed then that the crutches Alvin had were there to aid a very swollen looking ankle. Taking a deep breath, he persisted.

"Yes, I met you here," Jude answered, staring confidently up at the much taller man.

"Oh, I do come here a lot. Being as clumsy as I am," Alvin motioned to his ankle, "So, that makes sense."

The man paused, apparently lost in thought.

"You said your name was Jude, was it? Well, it's nice meeting you again, Jude," he added with a smile and a wave," I'll see you around."

Then he walked away.

Once outside, Alvin whipped a cell phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial. The call had been answered before he even managed to get it up to his ear.

"Balan, it looks like we've got one with a memory."


End file.
